Nous Voici! Sanofi's Leap to the World Stage

Still as French as they come, Sanofi's extraordinary international success--its P/E and growth rate are among the industry's highest--has been due to two factors. The first is its productive research group, which has eschewed most biotech fashions in favor of a conservative, small-molecule, therapeutically focused R&D program. The second has been its joint venture with Bristol-Myers on two of its most important products, a joint venture which allowed Sanofi, in a protected fashion, to learn to compete internationally against the most powerful pharmaceutical marketers in the world. If the company has an Achilles' heel, it is the francocentrism of its marketing and development, and perhaps research as well.